Okay so having spent all night reading everyone's latest blog posts and the handbooks I am feeling rather clueless and particularly panicky!
Unfortunately due to heavy work comittments and distance, I have been unable to attend a campus session since the induction! To make matters worse, my email account seems to have gone into protest and I haven't received any of my mail since the beginning of February, consequently leading to me still not having my results from the last module and pushing me further out of the know about the current module. I have finally received the module hand book and the reflecting on learning handbook but having read them I am still pretty clueless about what is needed from me in this part of the course.
I have gathered that I need to begin thinking about a topic to base my research on and having watched a video on Peter's blog I have decided that I need to base it not only on something that I am interested or passionate about but also something that is present in my life on a daily basis. My initial thoughts are very very vague and all I have come up with so far is that I should perhaps base the project on some aspect of my current job. I have, since November, been working in a secondary school as a full time teaching assistant. My role includes: assisting the general delivery of National Curriculum PE and English; providing 1:1 and small group support to children with Special Educational Needs and learning difficulties; teaching dance in both curriculum lessons and extra-curriculum clubs and organising various dance projects/performances. In the last few weeks I have also been working on developing my own dance classes outside of schools after numerous requests from the children at the school. I love my job and find working in secondary education incredibly interesting so this is a starting point for me.
Hopefully the penny will drop and all will become clear with help and guidance from fellow students and mentors. I have a copy of Julia Bell's book on the way to me in the post and am very hopeful that this will answer all of my questions.
Any help/guidance would be much appreciated because as I said, I am completely clueless about what I am supposed to be doing in this task.
First of all don't panic! Take a deep breath you've had a rocky start but you will be just fine. Start to alot time specifically for the project, time that work will not interfere with and stick to it. That is the first thing that you can do so that you don't fall behind. Copy and bind your module if you haven't already and read, even reread it if necessary. I sudgest pulling the vocabulary words as you go as you will have to do a glossary in one of the activities. As for the research portion. Can't say this enough try and find something that you are really interested. You are essentially going to be living and breathing this topic for months to come yet. Paula, Peter and Rosemary all have some guidelines to go by such as don't let it be too obvious, look around and see if it comes up in any journals or other academic works, the list is there, use it. As ideas pop into your head write them down. see if they connect somehow. Your looking for something that is not only manageable time and money wise you also want to ensure that you have a sample you can use or any/all of the resources that you need for this available in some shape or form. Let me know if this helps. Remember even vague ideas are ideas that you can work and build upon.
ReplyDeleteHey Sarah Amanda is right. Just remind yourself that yournot doing the research you are just finding out and learning how to research so that when we do our project we know how to and collect the right information the best and quickest way.
ReplyDeleteI also work as a teaching assistant however havnt been lucky enough to find high school work thereofre feel i am not being challenged. What i was interested in was teaching dance to non-dancers and what it takes as a teacher tlo teach them after coming from a professional background. You could think about this as you are surrounded by non-dancers when your teaching pe, how is it different from teaching private school dancers, how do you adapt, do you use imagery, how do you get them the best you can?
Something to think about :-)
Thanks for both of your comments I found them really encouraging. I have spent a considerable amount of time since this post brainstorming, jotting down random ideas and thoughts and doing some backgroud reading. I have decided that I should definately base my project on dance in secondary education. I have read some articles including government reviews concerning dance in the national curriculum and the importance of youth dance. The point you made, Abbi, is actually one of those blindingly obvious things which I just didnt think about! Indeed I have found it really difficult teaching non- dancers as a professional only used to teaching aspiring dancers. Along the way however, I have found the interest in dance from non- dancers staggering and as a result have been persuaded by some of the pupils to set up my own out of school dance classes at the weekends. I adore my job and the rewarding feeling which I get from dealing with secondary school pupils, seeing both ends of the spectrum: the children that are generally good at sports and get frustratded and angry for not also being good at dance; also the children who are not so strong in other aspects of PE, but really enjoy the dancing and find it a large boost to their confidence.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your support. Hope your modules are going well so far also.
Hi Sarah - please check my blog as well as Paula Nottingham's for some advice on the project. I am your academic adviser so if I can be of any help please e-mail me - r.mcguinness@mdx.ac.uk
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